PLAN TO CONSTRUCT NEW WATER PIPELINE IS REVIVED

Cost could reach $2 billion; deal on desalination sought

The anticipated contract will be among the most important decisions of the decade for the water authority. It’s expected to last for 30 years, and it would commit the agency to purchase supplies that are expected to be far more costly than water from Metropolitan.

If the plant is completed, it would produce enough “drought-proof” water for roughly 112,000 homes each year — equivalent to about 8 percent of regional supply. However, the water authority said late last year that wholesale water prices could rise by up to 11 percent, forcing officials to once again weigh the value of incremental independence from Metropolitan.

That process started during the drought of the early 1990s, when San Diego leaders feared getting shorted precious supplies and pledged never again to be so tied to “Mother Met.” New sources eroded Metropolitan’s control over water imports and fractured the relationship between San Diego and the rest of the region because of concerns that the water authority was essentially going into competition with Southern California’s largest supplier.

Tensions were so high that when Jeffrey Kightlinger, now the general manager at Metropolitan, started with the agency in 1995 one of his first tasks was to see if San Diego County could be kicked out of the alliance of water districts. He found that the water authority couldn’t be forcibly removed.

“It would probably make my life easier, so there is a little temptation on my side,” Kightlinger told the U-T San Diego editorial board on Wednesday. “But all it means is we would probably be in court suing each other over our contracts with each other as opposed to our relationship with each other. … Unless we totally replumb the state … we are going to have some sort of relationship and make that work.”

Animosity is peaking again following a 2007-10 drought that put pressure on water agencies and helped to drive up prices. MWD this month raised its average rates by 5 percent each of the next two years with no end in sight to the increases.

The water authority sued Metropolitan in 2010, saying MWD’s rates were structured in a way that illegally penalizes San Diego County for moving water through MWD pipes and subsidizes water customers elsewhere. In March, local officials launched a campaign to publicly discredit the Los Angeles-based agency.

Two Riverside County water agencies on Monday fired a counteroffensive against the county water authority when they issued a study by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. about San Diego’s water costs.

“What the San Diego water leadership doesn’t want to admit is that they’ve already spent $200 million more than they should have in the first seven years of their arrangement with Imperial,” said a statement by Paul Jones, general manager at the Eastern Municipal Water District.

The $50,000 study was paid for by Eastern and several other water agencies who are part of Metropolitan.

“I think decisions were made in good faith seven, eight, nine years ago (in San Diego County), that there is going to be a lot of growth and we are going to sell a lot of water — and even if we make a lot of expensive decisions, it’s OK,” Kightlinger said. “The world changed. We are not selling a lot of water. There is not a lot of growth. The economy is hammered. People are screaming about water rates and those very expensive decisions made down here (in San Diego) for independence are coming home to roost. And they are coming home in a big way.”

At water authority headquarters, assistant general manager Dennis Cushman said Metropolitan and others are trying to divert attention from the real issue.

“What does the price the water authority pays for its independent transfer supplies have to do with whether or not MWD’s (water) transportation rates are legal?” Cushman asked. “The answer: nothing. … We’re not suing IID over the prices we are paying for their supplies. We are suing MWD over the illegal rate they are charging us to transport those supplies.”